Psycological Review of the Soloist Essay Example

the signs of a Paranoid Schizophrenic, which is what Nathanial is believed to be diagnosed with. In the movie Nathanial shows almost text box signs of Schizophrenia, for example Nathanial has voices in his head that only he can hear, and the voices are real enough to hurt him emotionally. Nathanial also shows another symptom of Schizophrenia which is that he has extreme difficulty focusing on one task, and is easily jumping from one subject to another.

Although this symptom is most common with ADD and ADHD, in combination with the symptom of hearing voices it pushes the viewer to believe that Nathanial does indeed have Paranoid Schizophrenia. The role of Nathanial Ayers was played by Jamie Foxx, and in playing that large role Mr. Foxx had to portray schizophrenic illness in the most accurate way. For the most part, Mr. Foxx did an excellent job at illustrating how the voices in a Schizophrenic’s head can be extremely loud and damaging.

In saying that there were however some mistakes in the portrayal of a Schizophrenic, for example real schizophrenics do not think they are crazy, they feel more reality impaired like a blind person is visually impaired. The movie showed that Nathanial knew he was crazy, but still acted as if he was not. Although in some ways the schizophrenic illness was well shown in the movie, there still were some mistakes in the proper portrayal of a real schizophrenic. In the movie Nathanial is in denial of having any sort of sickness, and refuses any medical help from his mental disorder.

Steven Lopez believes that Nathanial does need some sort of medical help and in the movie

resorts to many methods to treat Nathanial’s Schizophrenia. First Mr. Lopez brings Nathanial to a homeless shelter for the mentally disabled named Lamp, in hope that they will provide him with medication. Unfortunately Lamp can only give medication to Nathanial if he wants to take the medication himself, which he does not want to. Mr. Lopez then proceeds to have Nathanial sign a legal document to have a therapist visit him once a month, which as well did not sit well with Nathanial.

Although there were many failed attempts to help Nathanial, and by the end Mr. Lopez feels as if he has indeed failed in saving Nathanial’s life, he soon realizes that he has helped Nathanial more than any medication would. Mr. Lopez was the first real friend Nathanial had ever since his Schizophrenia struck him when he was 19. Just by being Nathanial’s friend, Mr. Lopez has brought happiness to his life for the first time, and this way Mr. Lopez has indeed saved Nathanial’s life.